Photo by: Timothy White

Vampires may be cold but this wolf pack is hot! And getting hotter: Four new actors have been pumping up to play the band of brotherly shape-shifters in The Twilight Saga: New Moon.

The group – Chaske Spencer, 34, Alex Meraz, 24, Kiowa Gordon, 19, and Bronson Pelletier, 23 – join Taylor Lautner, 17, as he returns as Jacob Black for the sequel, due out Nov. 20.

Because the characters belong to the Quileute tribe, based in La Push, Wash., the film’s director, Chris Weitz, has insisted on authenticity. “They had to have papers that proved their heritage,” Weitz, who hired actors with Native American or First Nation ancestry, tells USA Today. “And they had to be in good physical shape.”

Not to mention possessing the ability to work half-naked in the chilly Vancouver, B.C., area, where the film has been shooting for several weeks. “They have all been good-natured,” says Weitz. “They show up on location in drenching, cold rain, and I say, ‘Okay, off with the robes.’ ”

Disrobing for a romp through the woods as Sam Uley, the pack’s alpha male, is New York-based Spencer. His Native American heritage is Lakota Sioux. Meraz, from Mesa, Ariz., plays Paul – the most volatile wolf-shifter – and boasts a Purepecha heritage.

Gordon is making his movie debut as Embry Call, Jacob’s best friend. He is from Peach Springs, Ariz., and has a Hualapai background. Rounding out the group as Jared is Pelletier of British Columbia. He’s done Canadian TV work and his family lines are Cree-Metis.

So they have buff physiques, but what about becoming wolves for the film? The transformations are computer-generated – the beasts are the size of horses and race around on all fours – but one part of each wolf will be familiar.

“They all have the actor’s eyes,” Weitz says.

via People

This is a great step in the right direction to soothe fan uncertainty, and points towards a responsive team at work on the New Moon movie. 

Alfonso Cuaron (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) could be another option, though I’m not sure Summit Entertainment care enough to spend the money to get him. It seems they would rather hurry this production along and make the oodles of money off of it than it to be a quality production film.

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But an insider says another reason it came down is because Weitz and Summit’s president of production Eric Feig are longtime pals. The source tells Deadline Hollywood Daily Weitz is “still considering” the offer to helm New Moon and possibly also Eclipse if the sequel and threequel movie adaptations of Stephenie Meyer’s series of vampire books are made back-to-back.

Weitz had some difficulties when working on The Golden Compass. He announced his resignation as director of the trilogy, citing the enormous technical challenges of the epic and later admitting he was worried about dissing by the book’s fans. After another director came on and then walked off, Weitz returned to direct saying he’d done “a lot of growing in the interim”. 

With that said, Summit Entertainment seems confident in putting Weitz in charge of it’s first valuable franchise. I find it a bit ridiculous as Catherine Hardwicke’s departure was due to her being “difficult” and “irrational”. What do you think??